In 2006 I was asked by director Grzegorz Jonkajtys if I would like to make a miniature for his new animated movie, The Ark. Naturally I agreed and after he introduced me to the storyline we started discussing about the whats and hows. This project turned out to be the biggest piece of prop in his movie – the main space of a huge oil tanker, rebuilt to a refugee camp.

Here is how I made it.

Scenes from the Ark movie by Grzegorz Jonkajtys.

Here at the Platige Image Studio by their MILO (MRMC).

WIP - trying to make it look cool though I just begun :-)

The Making OfTo begin the project I started with sketches and drafts to verify some ideas concerning scale and the possibilities further on. What where the amounts of beds needed? How much space do the inhabitants need to move around? What equipment would be visible on the levels?

Started with a simple construction reminding the ones you can see by fasades.

Then I painted it to get better contrast in shadows after spraying it white.

However, the model was to be matt painted in post production so light gray would be my final color.

Translucency test.

(how the light travels from upper to the lower levels).

How I made 800 beds in 1/35 scale by hand. With other words it's...BED TIME!

To begin the project I started with sketches and drafts to verify some ideas concerning scale and the possibilities further on. How many beds would be needed? How much space do the inhabitants need to move around? What equipment would be visible on the levels?

I started with the first 50 beds. 100, 200... 400!

In the beginning I made every part for the beds by hand.When 200 beds just 'dissapeared' in the big construction, I cut up a hole box of 'mattresses'.

The mattress factory.

That's better! ('bedder'?)

I tried to not make to many "real" beds, since this was a sort of refugee camp. Most of them should naturally be very simple – even just a blanket. That didn't however give the right impression. It had to be mattresses to say "sleeping spot".

More detail was needed

An example of how the construction looks with the beds on. All painted white again after Greg deciding it would be best for the mat painters to do their job in PP. Here you can clearly see the different materials the refugees used to build the floors on the different levels.

The Final Result

Preparing props for movies is always predestined by the post production and effects to come. Most of the detail in this model was never noticed in the movie because of a very dark aura, far distance or low angles (shot from below). However, the fun was making it with overkill so that the director can make his choices.The real model can be seen live at the Platige Image Studios in Warsaw.